The Land Beneath The Waves
by Riku-Dawntreader
Summary: When Kairi mistakenly thinks a practiced proposal is meant for her, Riku's heart is broken and Sora learns something about his closest friend
1. Chapter 1

Kingdom Hearts The Land Beneath The Waves by Vash/PrettySephy/RikuDawntreader Warnings: AU, yaoi, het, angst, sap.  
Pairings: Sora/Kairi Sora/Riku

-Chapter 01-  
Sora couldn't remember when he'd been more nervous. Today was the day he was going to propose. He'd been working up his courage to do so all week, and today, he had decided, was the day he was finally going to take the plunge.  
He gazed at the picture of himself, Kairi, and Riku that he kept in the corner of his bedroom mirror.  
"I love you," he said to it, not seeing Kairi, who was standing in the doorway, "and today, I'll ask you to marry me"  
"Yes." Sora turned to see Kairi standing there with a huge grin on her face. "Huh? How long have you been standing there"  
"Just long enough to hear what you were planning to do," Kairi laughed. "Oh, Sora. Do you mean that? You really want to get married"  
"Well, yeah, but..." Sora hedged, not sure what to say at this point.  
"I can't wait to tell Riku," Kairi cheered, throwing her arms around him. "I bet he'll be so happy for us"  
"Um, Kairi, about Riku"  
"What about me"  
Sora spun around in surprise. "Doesn't anyone knock around this place?!" he asked, sharply.  
"Sorry to intrude," Riku whispered, his voice laced with dark pain. "I'll get out of your lives, then, shall I?" He turned and departed, leaving Sora looking quite stunned.  
"Riku..." Sora began. Kairi grabbed his hand. "He'll be fine," she told him, "come on, we have to tell everyone about the wedding"  
"But..." Sora tried, again, as Kairi dragged him into the living room.  
"Guess what, everyone," she called out, "Sora and I are getting married"  
"Really," Sora's mother hugged her. "Well, I never thought I'd see my little Sora settle down. I was afraid he'd go off on some new adventure. I was so worried while he and Riku were gone. To look at them, you'd never guess Riku was the younger one, would you"  
"Um, no..." Kairi admitted. "He's always seemed older. Especially"  
"It's okay, dear," Sora's mother smiled. "I have pictures of when Riku looked older. Quite a striking gentleman, don't you think"  
"Yes," Kairi admitted. "I was wondering, were they always"  
"Rivals," Sora's mother nodded, "When I brought Riku home with me,  
Sora was convinced that I was planning to replace him. So he tried all sorts of things to get Riku into trouble. I must confess that at first, I did yell at poor Riku. But Riku was always patient, and never called Sora on it"  
"So how did you find out the truth"  
"I caught Sora at it. I told him that he had nothing to fear, and that I loved them both. Then I told him to apologize to Riku"  
"But surely you must have known that a baby couldn't be doing all those things"  
"A baby?" Sora's mother raised an eyebrow. "Didn't they ever tell you?  
I found Riku a year before you met them. He was lying on my front lawn, completely..." she blushed on Riku's behalf, and let the sentence die in her mouth. "Well, my heart went out to him. And when he woke up, he latched onto Sora almost immediately. So I decided take him in until we could find his parents"  
"He's adopted, then?" Kairi asked.  
"No," Sora's mother replied. "I asked him, but he refused, Though he never said why. I guess he wanted to keep his parents' last name in their memory, but so far I've never found out what it is. So he's just dear Riku"  
Kairi smiled thoughtfully at this. "I'll ask him," she decided.  



	2. Chapter 2

Kingdom Hearts The Land Beneath The Waves by Vash/PrettySephy/RikuDawntreader Warnings: AU, yaoi, het, angst, sap.  
Pairings: Sora/Kairi Sora/Riku

-Chapter 02-  
Outside the window, Riku turned from the spot where he'd been eavesdropping. He remembered the day he'd first come to live with Sora. He had been playing in the water the day before when he'd seen a boy who was just a little older than he was playing in the waves. He had watched him for a little while, and his heart leapt like a dolphin.  
When he had returned to his family, and had asked them about the strange way he felt about the other boy, his father had exploded that no son of his was going to be a boy-lover, and had thrown him out of the house.  
Outside the door, his mother had calmly told him to go off for a swim while she tried to work things out with his father.  
"No," Riku had told her. "if he's right, and I do love this other boy,  
then I want to be with him. And when he and I grow up, I'll love him even more"  
And Riku swam off without another word.  
The next morning, Sora's mother had found him, nude and almost frozen to death on her front lawn. There had been ice crystals in his hair,  
and ice had frozen over his mouth.Fortunately, it had not covered his nose, and he was thusly spared an untimely death by suffocation.  
He had nevertheless, almost died of hypothermia.  
"I shouldn't have come here," he decided. "I'll stay for the wedding,  
it's the least I could do for Sora. But not afterward. I couldn't bear seeing them together. After the wedding, I'll leave for good. It's the best way"  
With tears running down his face, he walked away from the house. "I guess he never realized how much I love him"  
"What's up with Riku," Sora's father asked as he walked into the house and hung up his parka. "I just saw him wandering off down the road"  
"I think he's"  
"He's upset because Sora and Kairi are getting married," his wife replied. "I think he's afraid he'll be left out"  
Sora's father considered for a bit. "Ah, that's why." he smiled, as he remembered how Riku had been ever since they'd taken him in.  
"Dear?" his wife asked.  
"I'll explain later," he replied. "Sora, you and Kairi go get Riku. Tell him its time to come home for dinner"  
"Sure thing," Sora agreed, as he ran out to tell Riku it was suppertime. 


	3. Chapter 3

Kingdom Hearts The Land Beneath The Waves by Vash/PrettySephy/RikuDawntreader Warnings: AU, yaoi, het, angst, sap.  
Pairings: Sora/Kairi Sora/Riku

-Chapter 03-  
As he cast off his clothing near the shore of the island where he had spent so many warm summer days with Sora and Kairi, Riku's heart was filled with the pain of losing the love he had yearned for so long.  
Sora had been the reason he had left home. The reason he had come to stay with these people, leaving behind the family he had been born into. It hurt him to think that the handsome young man would never be his. That after all his waiting and hoping, his dreams of a life with Sora, as Sora's mate, would never be recognized.  
He turned back from the water, to say one last goodbye to the city that had been his home for a few short years.  
Then he walked deeper and deeper until the ocean swallowed him up.  
Sora and Kairi arrived on the beach a few minutes later, just in time to see Riku's hair vanish under the water.  
"No!" Sora cried out, as he ran into the water. He made a valiant effort to find Riku, but it was too dark, and in the end he was forced to admit defeat.  
"Riku," he said, sadly. "If only I'd been strong enough to say how I really felt"  
"But you were strong enough, remember?" Kairi asked. "You proposed to me"  
"Actually," Sora admitted, too heartsick to care if Kairi hated him,  
"you just assumed I was going to propose to you. You weren't the only person in that photo besides me"  
"Oh, Sora," Kairi's eyes dampened with tears. "I'm so sorry"  
"Kairi," Sora told her, darkly, as he stood up, "don't speak to me right now. And don't follow me home. It's not you, I just need to be alone"  
They turned from the beach and went there own separate ways. Had they turned back to the water, they would have seen an elegant and somewhat large silver-white fishtail vanish back beneath the waves.  
Sora's mother was putting the glasses on the table, when Sora walked in with Riku's discarded clothing.  
"Mom," he sad, sadly, as he showed the clothing to his mother.  
She let out a little cry of shock and dismay. Then, they hugged each other, tears falling from their eyes, while Sora's father folded the clothes as if nothing was amiss and put them neatly on the arm of the sofa. 


	4. Chapter 4

Kingdom Hearts The Land Beneath The Waves by Vash/PrettySephy/RikuDawntreader Warnings: AU, yaoi, het, angst, sap.  
Pairings: Sora/Kairi Sora/Riku

-Chapter 04-  
A week after Riku had disappeared into the ocean, Sora's father was trying to read the news, a task that he was finding hard to accomplish with Sora grumbling irritably to himself.  
He set down the paper, and turned his attention to his son.  
"Sora," he said, calmly, "You haven't spoken to Kairi in almost a week. You two are best friends, and now that Riku has left, you two need each other"  
"Riku killed himself because Kairi jumped to conclusions," Sora pointed out. "I don't ever want to see her again"  
"Are you so sure of that, Sora? There's a full moon tonight, so the beach will be nicely lit. You and Kairi should go there tonight. You need to get your feelings out"  
"I told you, I don't want to speak to her." Sora said, quietly as his father put a hand on his shoulder.  
"Then talk to Riku," he said.  
"Riku's dead," Sora reminded him. Then he realized what his father was saying to him. "Oh, you want us to visit his grave. I guess we owe him that much. But, could I go alone tomorrow"  
"No, Sora," his father replied. "You and Kairi have to go together tonight. I don't want you two to be mad at each other any longer than you need to be.

"It was so nice of you to call me, Sora," Kairi said, smiling, as she and Sora stood together on the shore, looking out at the moonlit water. "I missed you"  
They watched the water, both wanting to say so much to the friend they had lost. Neither of them were able to find the words to say, so they just sat there until it grew late, and they began to grow weary with sleepiness and sadness.  
"I didn't want to see you again," Sora told Kairi as they finally stood up and turned to go home, It was my dad's idea. I'm still mad at you. I guess I'll never really get over what happened. I mean, he was our best friend"  
"What do you mean was?" Riku asked from behind them. Sora and Kairi both spun around so fast in surprise that they collided with each other and fell on their butts.  
Riku was in the water about eight feet from the shoreline, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "I had a feeling you'd be here tonight, Sora," he said, once Kairi had gotten to her feet. Sora just sat there, too stunned to stand. "Your dad sent you, didn't he"  
Sora nodded.  
"I think he always knew about me," Riku smiled. "That's why he told you to come here. He knew I'd be topside tonight. My kind never could resist a moonlight swim"  
"Huh?" Sora blinked.  
"Sora," Riku asked after a while, "I can't believe you haven't given me hug after all this time. And I thought I meant something to you"  
Sora and Kairi stood up and waited for Riku to join them at the shore.  
"You'll have to come out here," Riku told them.  
"Are you a ghost, then?" Sora asked.  
"Come and see," Riku teased, a wicked smile on his face.  
Sora and Kairi ventured out into the water, until they were only half a foot away from Riku.  
"Well?" Sora asked, anxiously. He frowned as Riku vanished beneath the moonlit water. "Riku? Riku"  
All at once, Riku leapt from the water, and high into the air, his form graceful by moonlight. Water ran over his elegant tailfins, glistening in the moonlight as he leapt right over Sora's head.  
Sora stood there with his mouth hangin open.  
"But... how... wha...?" was the best Sora could come up with when his mouth had started working again. "When did you become a merman"  
"I was born one," Riku admitted. "I left the ocean to be with you"  
"Why?" Sora asked.  
"Because I loved you from the first day I set eyes on you. Even when I was a boy, I knew you were the only one I'd ever love. But when you chose Kairi, I could no longer bear to stay in your world"  
"Riku," Sora told him as he swam to shore. "I didn't chose Kairi. She only assumed I did. I wanted to pick you. But, I guess it's too late, isn't it? I mean, you aren't coming back are you? Well, I guess this is goodbye then, at least until the next time there's a full moon"  
He got out of the water, and went home, leaving Riku and Kairi alone at the beach.  
Kairi watched him go, then turned to Riku. "It's good to know you're okay. We thought you had"  
"Killed myself?" Riku finished. "I'm sorry that I've hurt you so. It was not my intention. Sora's met merpeople before, so I figured he would guess my secret. It's getting late. You should go home and get some sleep. You'll see me again. I promise"  
Kairi hugged him once more, a task that was not easy while trying to stay afloat. Then she swam back to the shore and returned home.

Sora put on his shoes the next morning, to fetch the morning paper for his father. The minute he opened the door however, the newspaper was cast from his mind by the sight that met his eyes.  
Riku was lying sound asleep on the front lawn, completely nude, a warm smile upon his lips.  
Sora carried him inside and put him on the sofa, covering him with a blanket. Then he kissed him softly upon the lips.  
"Welcome home, Riku." he whispered. 


End file.
